Adjustable food carton

ABSTRACT

An illustrated view of an improved food container for saving space when the food container is less than full is presented. The improved food container is useful for reducing an amount of storage space necessary to store the improved food container. Furthermore, the food product inside of the improved food container will have preservability because it will contain less air. The improved food container further is useful for providing an indication of the amount of food product remaining in the improved food container.

PRIORITY

This utility application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 63/191,927, filed on May 22, 2021, the entirety ishereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to food cartons. More particularly, it relates toa adjustable food carton.

BACKGROUND

A carton is a box or container usually made of paperboard and sometimesof corrugated fiberboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging.Sometimes a carton is also called a box.

Although quite often shaped like a cuboid, it is not uncommon to findcartons lacking right angles and straight edges, as in a squround usedfor ice cream. Tetrahedrons and other shapes are available. Cartons witha hexagonal or octagonal cross section are sometimes used for specialtyitems.

Cartons for food products are convenient and useful for safe storage offood items. However, when items are removed from the carton, thesecartons do not reduce in size. Thus, the less-filled carton continues touse and take up space in a cabinet, refrigerator and/or freezer. This isless than desirable. Furthermore, when a carton is less than full, theconsumer cannot detect the amount of food product remaining in thecarton without opening the carton.

Accordingly, and in light of the foregoing, it would be desirable todevise an improved food carton that is adjustable in size dependent onan amount of food product remaining in the food carton. It would befurther advantageous that the improved food carton can further providethe amount of food product remaining in the food carton.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustrated view of a prior art food carton.

FIG. 2 is an illustrated view of an exemplary improved food carton.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The phrases “in one embodiment,” “in various embodiments,” “in someembodiments,” and the like are used repeatedly. Such phrases do notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment. The terms “comprising,”“having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictatesotherwise. Such terms do not generally signify a closed list.

“Above,” “adhesive,” “affixing,” “any,” “around,” “both,” “bottom,”“by,” “comprising,” “consistent,” “customized,” “enclosing,” “friction,”“in,” “labeled,” “lower,” “magnetic,” “marked,” “new,” “nominal,” “not,”“of,” “other,” “outside,” “outwardly,” “particular,” “permanently,”“preventing,” “raised,” “respectively,” “reversibly,” “round,” “square,”“substantial,” “supporting,” “surrounded,” “surrounding,” “threaded,”“to,” “top,” “using,” “wherein,” “with,” or other such descriptorsherein are used in their normal yes-or-no sense, not as terms of degree,unless context dictates otherwise.

Reference is now made in detail to the description of the embodiments asillustrated in the drawings. While embodiments are described inconnection with the drawings and related descriptions, there is nointent to limit the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein. On thecontrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications andequivalents. In alternate embodiments, additional devices, orcombinations of illustrated devices, may be added to, or combined,without limiting the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein.

Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art food carton 10 for storing of foodproduct is presented. The food carton 10 has an outside 11, an inside12, a top 13 and lid 14. The outside 11 of the food carton 10 has apicture 15, a logo 16, an indicator of flavor 17 and an expiration date18.

The inside 12 of the food carton 10 contains one or more food products.The top 13 of the food carton 10 is open, thus allowing for access tothe inside 12 of the food carton 10. By accessing the inside 12 of thefood carton 10, a consumer may consume the food product, thisconsumption of the food product may be all of the food product or aportion of the food product.

The lid 14 is removably coupled to the top 13 of the food carton 10allowing for the food product contained on the inside 12 of the foodcarton 10 to be safely stored.

The picture 15 on the outside 11 of the food carton 10 preferablydescribes in picture form the food product contained in the food carton10. The logo 16 of the outside 11 of the food carton 10 preferablyidentifies a manufacturer or brand name of the manufacturer of the foodproduct contained in the food carton 10.

The indicator of flavor 17 on the outside 11 of the food carton 10generally identifies a flavor of the food product when the food productcomes in one or more flavors or types. For example, if the food productis ice cream, then indicator of flavor 17 may indicate the flavor beingrocky road, vanilla, chocolate, etc. When the food product is a potatochip, the indicator of flavor 17 may indicate rigged chips, bar-b-quechips, etc. When the food product is coffee, the indicator of flavor 17may indicate, bold, Columbian decaffeinated, hazelnut, etc. As would beobvious to one of skill in the art, the food container 10 may containany type of food product.

The expiration date 18 on the outside 11 of the food carton 10 generallyidentifies a date the food product is still considered to be safe toconsume.

Moving now to FIG. 2, an illustrated view of an improved food container100 for saving space when the food container 100 is less than full ispresented. The improved food container 100 is useful for reducing anamount of storage space necessary to store the improved food container100. The improved food container 100 further is useful for providing anindication of the amount of a food product 110 remaining in the improvedfood container 100. Furthermore, the food product 110 inside of the foodimproved food container 100 will have preservability because it willcontain less air.

The improved food container 100 is preferably a squround shape, such asthat used to package ice cream, however the shape may be any othershape, such as, but not limited to, square, rectangular, tetrahedron,etc. The food product 110 is preferably ice cream product, however otherproducts are hereby contemplated, including, but not limited to, potatochips, coffee, crackers, etc.

The improved food container 100 has a lid 101, an upper section 102, atear strip 103, an outside 104, a lower section 105 and an inside 106.The upper section 102 and the lower section 105 each have a top 107, 108and a bottom 109, 111. The top 108 of the lower section 105 has a firstsealing lip 112. The bottom 109 of the upper section 102 has a secondsealing lip 113. The top 107 of the upper section 102 is preferablyopen. The inside 106 of the improved food container 100 is preferablyopen, thereby can store and access the food product 110 in the improvedfood container 100.

The tear strip 103 has a first end 114 and a second end 115. The firstend 114 of the tear strip 103 is securely and removably coupled to thesecond sealing lip 113 of the bottom 109 of the upper section 102. Thesecond end 115 of the tear strip 103 is securely and removably coupledto the first sealing lip 112 of the top 108 of the lower section 105.

Optionally, and or additionally, a middle 116 of the tear strip 103 hasa tab 117. The tab 117 of the middle 116 of the tear strip 103 is usefulfor allowing an easy access to remove the tear strip 103 when the foodcontainer 100 has a reduced amount of food product 110 remaining on theinside 106 of the improved food container 100.

The outside 104 of the improved food container 100 has a plurality oflevel indicators 118, a logo 119, a product indicator 120 and a flavorindicator 121. The level indicators 118 provide an indication of theamount of food product 110 contained in the improved food container 100.The logo 119 indicates the brand name or food product in the improvedfood container 100. The product indicator 120 indicates the food product110 in the improved food container 100. The product indicator 120 ispreferably an icon or picture, however the product indicator may be aname of the food product.

The expiration date 122 on the outside 104 of the improved foodcontainer 100 generally identifies a date the food product is stillconsidered to be safe to consume.

The lid 101 is coupled to the top 107 of the upper section 102 of theimproved food container 100 when the improved food container 100 hasfood product in the upper section 102. When the improved food container100 has only an amount that is contained in the lower section 105, thetear strip 103 is removed and the lid 101 is then removably coupled tothe top 108 of the lower section 105 of the improved food container 100.

In the numbered clauses below, specific combinations of aspects andembodiments are articulated in a shorthand form such that (1) accordingto respective embodiments, for each instance in which a “component” orother such identifiers appear to be introduced (with “a” or “an,” e.g.)more than once in a given chain of clauses, such designations may eitheridentify the same entity or distinct entities; and (2) what might becalled “dependent” clauses below may or may not incorporate, inrespective embodiments, the features of “independent” clauses to whichthey refer or other features described above.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specificexemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies arerepresentative of more general processes and/or devices and/ortechnologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

The features described with respect to one embodiment may be applied toother embodiments or combined with or interchanged with the features ofother embodiments, as appropriate, without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An improved food container for reducing storagespace when the improved food container is less than full, the foodcontainer comprising: an inside, the inside having a food product; anoutside; a lid; an upper section, the upper section having a first endand a second end, wherein the second end of the upper section have asecond sealing lip, wherein the lid being removably coupled to the firstend of the upper section; and a lower section, the lower section havinga first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the lower sectionhaving a first sealing lip, the lid being removably coupled to the firstend of the lower section when the tearing strip has been removed.
 2. Thefood container of claim 1, further comprising: the sealing strip havinga tab, the tab being for easy removal of the tearing strip.
 3. The foodcontainer of claim 1, wherein the outside of the food container having aproduct indicator.
 4. The food container of claim 3, wherein the productindicator is a picture.
 5. The food container of claim 4, wherein thepicture is ice cream.
 6. The food container of claim 1, furthercomprising: a plurality of food product levels, wherein the food productlevels are for an indication of the amount of food product in the uppersection of the food container.
 7. The food container of claim 1, whereinthe outside of the food container having a flavor indicator on the lowersection.
 8. The food container of claim 1, wherein the food containerhas a squround shape.
 9. The food container of claim 1, where the foodproduct is ice cream.
 10. The food container of claim 1, wherein theupper section of the food container has a logo.
 11. The food containerof claim 10, wherein the logo identifies a manufacturer of the foodproduct.
 12. The food container of claim 1, wherein the lower sectionhas an indication of flavor.
 13. The food container of claim 12, whereinthe indication of flavor being rocky road.
 14. The food container ofclaim 1, wherein the upper section has a plurality of tabs.
 15. The foodcontainer of claim 14, wherein the tabs indicating the amount of foodproduct in the food container.
 16. The food container of claim 15,wherein when the tabs indicate that no food product is contained in theupper section, the tab of the tear strip is pulled to reduce the size ofthe food container.
 17. The food container of claim 16, wherein the lidis removed from the top of the upper section of the food container. 18.The food container of claim 17, wherein the lid is removably coupled tothe top of the lower section.
 19. The food container of claim 1, whereinthe food product is coffee.
 20. The food container of claim 1, whereinthe food product is potato chips